African Nations Championship

African Nations Championship
Full name	Orange African Nations Championship
abbreviation	CHAN
Association	CAF
founding	2007
First edition	2009
Teams	16
Game mode	Round-robin tournament (4 groups of 4 teams) / knockout system (from quarterfinals)
Title holder	Morocco (1st title)
Record winner	DR Congo (2 wins)
Website	www.cafonline.com

The African Nations Championship ( French Championnat d'Afrique des Nations , English African Nations Championship , short CHAN ) is an African football tournament and was introduced by the CAF in 2007 as a new tournament for the national teams of Africa. Only players who play in the national championships of their home countries are eligible to play. The tournament alternates annually with the Africa Cup .

The first African Nations Championship was held in 2009. The host was the Ivory Coast . Eight nations participated; since the 2011 tournament the number of teams has been sixteen.

Following the decision of the CAF to host the African Football Championship in odd years from 2013, the Nations Cup was postponed to even years from 2014.

format

The CAF divides the countries for the qualification into six zones (north zone, west zone A, west zone B, central zone, zone central-east and south zone). The tournament has been played with 16 teams since 2011. The North and West A zones each have two starting places, the other four zones each have three starting places.

In the current mode, introduced at the 2011 tournament in Sudan, the teams are drawn into four groups in which each team plays one against each other. The third and fourth placed in the groups drop out of the competition, the first and second in each group advance to the quarter-finals. The losers of the semi-finals play for 3rd place in the tournament, and the winners of the two semi-finals meet in the final to determine the tournament winner.

First participations

There were at least eight first-time participants up until the 2014 competition. Below is a list of all 30 national teams that participated up to 2018.

• Teams in bold became African champions when they first participated.
• Teams in italics were hosts when they first participated.

year	First time participant
2009	Ivory Coast	Ghana	DR Congo	Libya
	Senegal	Zambia	Zimbabwe	Tanzania
2011	Algeria	Angola	Gabon	Cameroon
	Mali	Niger	Rwanda	Sudan
	South Africa	Uganda	Tunisia
2014	Ethiopia	Burkina Faso	Burundi	Republic of the Congo
	Morocco	Mauritania	Mozambique	Nigeria
2016	Guinea
2018	Equatorial Guinea	Namibia
2021	Togo

The tournaments at a glance

year	host	final			3rd place match
		winner	Result	2nd place	3rd place	Result	4th Place
2009 details	Ivory Coast	DR Congo	2-0	Ghana	Zambia	2: 1	Senegal
2011 details	Sudan	Tunisia	3-0	Angola	Sudan	1-0	Algeria
2014 details 1	South Africa	Libya	0: 0 n.v. 4: 3 i. E.	Ghana	Nigeria	1-0	Zimbabwe
2016 details	Rwanda	DR Congo	3-0	Mali	Ivory Coast	2: 1	Guinea
2018 details	Morocco	Morocco	4-0	Nigeria	Sudan	1: 1 4: 2 i. E.	Libya
2021 details 2	Cameroon
2022 details	Algeria

¹The 2013 tournament was postponed to 2014 so that it did not collide with the Africa Cup, which was brought forward from 2014 to 2013, and from now on always held in even years.

² The tournament was postponed from April 2020 to January 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

statistics

Ranking list

rank	country	title	Year (s)	2nd place	3rd place	4th Place		final	Semifinals
1	DR Congo	2	2009, 2016					2	2
2	Libya	1	2014			1		1	2
3	Morocco	1	2018					1	1
	Tunisia	1	2011					1	1
5	Ghana			2				2	2
6th	Nigeria			1	1			1	2
7th	Angola			1				1	1
	Mali			1				1	1
9	Sudan				2				2
10	Ivory Coast				1				1
	Zambia				1				1
12	Algeria					1			1
	Guinea					1			1
	Senegal					1			1
	Zimbabwe					1			1

Eternal final table

space	country	Games	Gates	Points	⌀ points
1	DR Congo	19th	27:20	35	1.84
2	Nigeria	14th	25:17	29	2.07
3	Libya	15th	13:10	26th	1.73
4th	Morocco	13	27:10	25th	1.92
5	Sudan	12	10: 5	24	2.00
6th	Ghana	14th	12:11	24	1.71
7th	Zambia	12	15: 6	22nd	1.83
8th	Tunisia	10	20: 8	21st	2.10
9	Angola	13	10:14	19th	1.46
10	Mali	13	13:14	18th	1.38
11	Cameroon	11	10: 7	17th	1.55
12	Ivory Coast	15th	12:15	17th	1.13
13	Zimbabwe	15th	9:11	15th	1.00
14th	South Africa	7th	11: 9	13	1.86
15th	Gabon	10	12:13	12	1.20
16	Republic of the Congo	7th	7: 4	11	1.57
17th	Guinea	9	10:12	11	1.22
18th	Rwanda	10	7:15	10	1.00
19th	Senegal	8th	5: 5	9	1.13
20th	Algeria	6th	7: 4	8th	1.33
21st	Namibia	4th	3: 3	7th	1.75
22nd	Uganda	12	10:17	7th	0.58
23	Niger	7th	6:14	7th	1.00
24	Burundi	3	4: 4	4th	1.33
25th	Tanzania	3	2: 2	4th	1.33
26th	Burkina Faso	6th	3: 6	3	0.50
27	Ethiopia	6th	1: 9	1	0.17
28	Mozambique	3	4: 9	0	0.00
29	Equatorial Guinea	3	1: 7	0	0.00
30th	Mauritania	6th	4:14	0	0.00

Remarks:

• Goals from the penalty shoot-out are not included in the goal statistics.
• Win 3 points each, tie one point
• In the event of a tie, the goal difference or the number of goals scored counts

Further

competition	places	Stages	Messages 1	Teams	Games		/Game	spectator	Z / game	Top scorer (goals)
2009	2	2	40	8th	16	30th	1.88	97,000 2	19,400 2	5
2011	4th	5	41	16	32	59	1.84			3
2014	4th	4th	41	16	32	73	2.28	296,440	9,264	4th
2016	3	4th	44	16	32	80	2.50			4th
2018	4th	4th	51	16	32	58	1.81			9
2021			48	16	32
highest values

¹The reports submitted on time are counted regardless of whether, before the start of the qualification, they may have been withdrawn, not started or an association has been excluded; including defending champions and hosts.

² Spectator information only available for five games.

Individual evidence

1. ^ CAF Executive Committee decisions: CAN in odd years from 2013, CAF Online, May 15, 2010